Dr. Steven Perlow's specialties are group therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and child psychology. He practices in Atlanta, GA. These areas are among Dr. Perlow's clinical interests: depression, behavior therapy, and attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD). He is an in-network provider for several insurance carriers, including Amerigroup, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and WellCare. He welcomes new patients.

Dr. Elaine Thomas practices child psychology in Marietta, GA. Dr. Thomas's areas of expertise include the following: depression, behavior therapy, and phobias. She is an in-network provider for Amerigroup, Magellan Health Services, and Blue Cross, in addition to other insurance carriers. New patients are welcome to contact her office for an appointment.

Ms. Helen Kraus is a family therapist and social worker in Marietta, GA. Areas of expertise for Ms. Kraus include depression, behavior therapy, and infertility. She honors ValueOptions, Blue Cross, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, in addition to other insurance carriers.

Family therapy is sometimes also called family counseling or marriage and family therapy. It is a form of mental health care and therapy that treats a couple or entire family as a unit, paying special attention to how the members of the family interact with each other. Each family has a unique personality, communication style, and unique problems they face together. In family therapy, all members of the family attend counseling sessions as a group, and together they learn how to identify conflicts within and without the family, as well as how to communicate better and problem-solve together.

Some topics commonly addressed in family therapy include:

Bullying

Abuse

Divorce

Adoption or Infertility

Marriage conflict

Substance abuse

Family therapists may work in group practices, private practices, schools, or hospitals. They work with families of all different kinds to help them live together as a stronger unit.

Psychologists are not medical doctors, but they are important workers in the mental health field. A psychologist studies the way people feel and think, as well as how thoughts and feelings change the way people act. When psychologists work with patients directly to help them feel better, they practice clinical psychology. Clinical psychologists diagnose mental health disorders and provide treatment in the form of therapy.

A clinical psychologist might work with individuals, families, groups, or organizations. They may see people who are struggling to work through difficult circumstances, trying to overcome bad habits or patterns in their lives, recovering from a brain injury, or suffering from mental illness such as depression.

Clinical psychologists are skilled assessors. Through talking to their patients they can: (1) identify which thoughts or feelings are causing the problems in their patient’s life, (2) help their patient acknowledge what emotional strengths they bring to face those problems, and (3) make plans for treatment.

Treatment varies widely depending on the patient’s problems and the psychologist’s areas of expertise. There hundreds of recognized modes of therapy; in addition, a patient may need to see a psychiatrist (medical doctor) for medication treatment. Whichever therapies a psychologist uses, the goal is to help patients see areas in their life where their thoughts or feelings are holding them back and causing distress. Through therapy, psychologists can encourage their patients to develop new ways to adapt so that they can lead happier lives.

Counseling is a type of professional guidance for handling problems in life. There are many types of counselors, and they serve an incredibly wide variety of people with all kinds of different needs. There are general counselors, marriage and family counselors, school and student counselors, career and vocational counselors, religious counselors, and gerontological counselors specifically for the elderly.

In all cases, counseling works when the client and the counselor talk to each other and develop a trusting relationship. The counselor listens respectfully to the client’s problems. Then the two together work on identifying goals, increasing coping skills to overcome any troubles, and improving useful skills such as communication. The goals of counseling will be different for each person, but generally they include an increased sense of well being, decreased distress and anxiety, resolved crisis, and increased ability and function in daily life.

Psychotherapy is commonly referred to as talk therapy or simply therapy. Trained therapists help and guide patients as they talk through issues in their life and problem-solve ways to make healthy changes.

The use of therapy is extremely common, with millions of people going through therapy each year in the United States alone. It can be useful for patients who want to learn coping skills when they are facing difficult issues or need to heal from past trauma. Therapy can also be a support tool when patients are facing stressful periods in their life. Essentially, therapy is helpful any time life events require more mental or emotional resources than a patient currently has. Change is a major theme of therapy, offering a supportive environment for patients to make changes to their life or themselves so that past problems stop recurring in the future.

There are several different types of psychotherapy, with the most common being cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. This type of therapy focuses on the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, is a form of CBT that encourages acceptance and validation as well as change. Interpersonal therapy focuses on relationships and communication as a pathway to feeling better. Psychoanalysis, an older form of therapy invented by Sigmund Freud, teaches that all problems stem from the unconscious.
Although many people see therapists by themselves, not all psychotherapy is one-on-one. For example, in family therapy, the therapist treats a family as a unit. Patients can also participate in group therapy, where they meet as a group to work on issues.

Psychotherapy is a safe, powerful healing tool that can help patients lead happier and healthier lives. However, therapy is a joint effort between the patient and the therapist. Both need to work together in order for therapy to be effective.

Advertisement

Gender

Insurance

New Patients

Additional Information

Distinctions

Foreign Language

Accessibility

Online Communication

Patient Demographic

Certifications

Credentials

Specialty

Years Since Graduation

What is Couples Therapy?

Couples therapy refers to a specific type of counseling where relationship issues are the focus of the treatment. It used to be referred to as marriage counseling and still may be called that in many places, but because participants are not always married to each other, couples therapy is a more accurate name.

Closely related to family therapy, couples therapy is a type of counseling that seeks to help couples improve their relationship. A therapist may teach each partner in the relationship specific skills, such as managing or expressing their emotions, conflict resolution, communication skills, and problem solving. Both people in the couple need to be committed to learning new skills themselves as well as putting effort into supporting the relationship. The typical goals of couples therapy are to decrease conflict, unhappiness, and resentment, as well as increase communication, intimacy, and connection.

Couples therapy may be offered privately, at a university, or in a group practice. It is usually short-term therapy, lasting a few weeks until the participants have learned new skills and have the ability to repair their relationship. Its effectiveness depends on the willingness of both participants to commit to therapy and make the relationship a priority. For many couples it can be extremely helpful.